Akhilesh C.
15. Raja the Great
Tell me if this sounds familiar – a blind person who can fight crime and beat his adversaries to smithereens with impeccable accuracy, thanks to his enhanced sensory perceptions. Daredevil? Well, he’s not the only one! ‘Raja the Great’, I bet, is close enough. Revolving around a visually challenged yet happy-go-lucky man Raja (Ravi Teja), a damsel-in-distress Lucky, whose morally upright father-cop has been brutally murdered by a conniving goon Devaraj and a slew of funny characterizations in between, the movie carries a high visual appeal as it is. As Raja accompanies a bunch of cops who’re on their way to act saviour for Lucky against Devaraj’s henchmen, the on-screen romance between the duo simmers, coupled with a few hard-hitting fight sequences. An out and out masala entertainer, ‘Raja the Great’ is unmissable for Ravi Teja’s fans and for others, it is the same old wine in a newer bottle.
14. Mahanubhavudu (“A Great Person“)
Though we couldn’t cherish much of Sharwanand’s characterization as Raju in ‘Sathamanam Bhavati’, ‘Mahanubhavudu’ is a slight departure I must say, as far as his role in the film is concerned. Straight from the director Maruthi’s kitty, who had previously worked on blockbusters like ‘Bhale Bhale Magadivoy’, ‘Mahanubhavudu’ is the tale of an OCD-diagnosed software professional Anand and his never-ending compulsion for cleanliness. Incidentally, he falls for a girl Meghana, who is also extremely obsessed with keeping her surroundings clean. As the events unfold, Anand becomes more and more paranoid about cleanliness and falls short of the expectations both in front of Meghana as well as her father, who had to be hospitalized following a near-fatal heart attack. Many leagues different from the mainstream Telugu cinema, ‘Mahanubhavudu’ is about the social enigma of unclean surroundings, combined with the fact that a person with OCD is also a human at the same time and is to be loved and cared for. Though ‘Mahanubhavudu’ falls short of the charm of ‘Bhale Bhale Magadivoy’ which too was centred around a similar medical disorder, it still is a fun watch.
13. Keshava
Boasting of an oversimplified plot, yet with an impactful outcome, ‘Keshava’ is every inch worth the praise for its genre. With Nikhil Siddharth in the titular role as ‘Keshava’, the story is a coherent narrative of a law student who had witnessed his parents’ death in a horrifying car crash. Anguished and battered, he sets himself on a revenge-killing spree, despite having a heart condition and is flawless in his Dexter-like execution style. Isha Koppikar delights us with her screen presence as a police officer who’s on a trail of the unexplained killings until she catches up with Keshava and chooses to help him instead, thus indirectly supporting his cause. An engrossing thriller, with a conclusive ending and with its own satisfactory moments, this one’s a must watch for the thriller-genre movie buffs.
12. Guru (“Mentor“)
A remake of the R. Madhavan’s 2016 blockbuster ‘Irudhi Suttru’, ‘Guru’ features Daggubati Venkatesh and Ritika Singh in leading roles, with Ritika Singh reprising her role as a lead, which she also did for the Tamil and Hindi versions. The protagonist Aadi, who is a failure at boxing and has been training women boxing teams for quite some time, sees the rebellion in a vegetable seller Ramulu and offers to train her in boxing for four hours a day, instead of her elder sister. Notwithstanding his emphatic methods and his loathsome, rude behaviour, Ramulu loses her first match deliberately. The movie progresses with Ramulu trying to adjust to Aadi’s methods for the greater good – to win the World Boxing Championship, along with also falling for her boxing guru. Though the movie bears striking similarities with its counterparts in Tamil and Hindi (obviously!), Daggubati Venkatesh’s Aadi is even the more aggressive and uncouth than Madhavan was. Regardless, ‘Guru’ is an emotional and triumphant journey and is worth every minute your time.
11. Sathamanam Bhavati (“May you live for 100 long years“)
The highly-anticipated Sankranthi release, a family entertainer, ‘Sathamanam Bhavati’ was widely cherished by critics and viewers alike and also became the year’s National Award Recipient of the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, As with any movie made on the NRI subject, ‘Sathamanam Bhavati’ deals with the social dilemmas such as joint families vs nuclear families, cultural and traditional values vs the familial togetherness coming to the play and honouring one’s parents sentiments. The movie revolves around Rajugaru (Prakash Raj), who lives with his family in a village called Atreyapuram and who longs for his NRI sons and daughters who barely visit them. Alas, under the false pretext of his divorce with his wife, he forces his children to come visit the village on the occasion of Sankranthi. With a typical ‘Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu’ like treatment and the idea that family is above everything else is the winning stroke of this movie.
Read More: Bengali Movies 2017
